The present invention relates to an insert having a compartment for a recording medium, and more particularly to such a one-piece insert for saddle stitching into a book or magazine.
It is well-known to provide a one-piece insert for binding into a book or magazine, preferably by saddle-stitching (i.e., stapling). Perforated lines of the insert may define a mailer (e.g., a reply card) and a compartment for a recording medium (e.g., a compact disc, CD-ROM, or the like, whether square or rectangular, whether perforated or not). Typically both the mailer and the compartment are detachable from the magazine or book, while leaving the rest of the insert secured therein. After its removal from the magazine or book, the recording medium compartment is preferably useful for storage of the recording medium. The present invention is particularly well adapted for use with a recording medium in the form of an 80 millimeter disc or like mini-disc smaller than the conventional CD or CD-ROM. Each insert is preferably formed from a single sheet of paperboard which is coated on both sides so that it may be easily printed on both sides and so that the recording medium within the compartment encounters only the soft coated surface of the paperboard.
Typically, after the compartment has been removed from the magazine or book, it must still be manually opened in order to enable removal of the recording medium therefrom. This is necessary so that the recording medium is totally enclosed within the compartment and therefore totally protected after insertion, both during subsequent manufacturing operations and during its life in the magazine or book as part of the insert.
The commercially available recording medium compartments fall generally into two categories. In one category are the recording medium compartments which are actually formed (constructed) about the recording medium so that the recording medium is never “inserted” into the compartment. Such compartments have not be found to be entirely satisfactory. First, the recording medium must be present at the place where the compartment is formed, thereby reducing the flexibility associated with compartments which are first formed, and then at a later date have the recording medium inserted thereinto. Second, the recording medium is exposed to the ambient atmosphere in the compartment manufacturing plant, which atmosphere may be contaminated with particulate matter or volatile solvents or otherwise unsuitable for a delicate recording medium. Third, precisely because the compartment is formed about the recording medium, the compartment-forming operation is necessarily conducted under constraints which slow the compartment-forming process, and therefore reduces its economic viability.
In the other category, the compartment is pre-formed with an open flap on one edge thereof (whether it be a top edge, bottom edge or lateral edge), the recording medium is inserted thereinto through the open edge, and then the open flap is automatically sealed so that the recording medium is totally enclosed within the compartment and therefore totally protected during subsequent manufacturing operations and during its life in the magazine or book. The flap is eventually opened or cut in order to permit removal of the recording medium from the compartment. This flap opening operation must be performed by the ultimate user of the recording medium in an operation separate and distinct from the removal of the compartment from the remainder of the insert (i.e., from the removal of the compartment from the magazine or book).
Regardless of the category in question, the insert including the recording medium compartment (and the recording medium therein) is then bound into the magazine or book by conventional automatic equipment—for example, using saddle stitching.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an insert which in one preferred embodiment is suitable for saddle-stitching into a magazine or book.
Another object is to provide such an insert containing a recording medium compartment which in one preferred embodiment is opened automatically (to permit removal of the recording medium) when the ultimate user removes the recording medium compartment from the remainder of the insert—that is, from the magazine or book.
A further object is to provide a storage compartment wherein in one preferred embodiment the recording medium is inserted into the compartment through one edge during the manufacturing process and subsequently removed from the compartment by the ultimate user through a different edge.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide such an insert and compartment which in a preferred embodiment is well-adapted for use with commercially available automatic feeders for insertion of a recording medium into the compartment and with automatic binding equipment for binding of the insert into a magazine or book.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide such an insert and compartment which are inexpensive and easy to manufacture and use.